The Portland daily press., 1887-11-28
FREE STREET CHURCH.
First Sermon Since the Edifice Has
Been Renovated.

Yesterday Free Street Baptist church was
opened for services for the first time since
the repairs were compiled. These repairs
have been most thorough, and the church
now has one of the most elegant and attrac-
tive audience rooms in the city. The princi-
pal changes are the removal of the side gal
leries, the remodeling of the pulpit recess
and baptistIy and the substitution of elegant
stained glass windows in place of the old
fashioned lights. The removal of the side
galleries gives the room an appearance Of
spaciousness which was destroyed formerly.
The rear gallery has been allowed to re-
main, though it has been remodelled, and is
now approached by easy and open stair
cases. The removal of the rear row Of pews
has allowed much needed addition to the
space by the doors. The pulpit recess has
been entirely remodelled, and a screen erect
ed behind the pulpit and between it and the
stairway which leads to the vestry below.
The screen, which is a tasteful piece of orna-
mental work, bears the inscription: ''Let
the People Praise Thee, 0, God; Let All the
People Praise Thee" The new stained
glass windows, in addition to being highly
UludlliCutstls OlC dioO hCihOAA"io O& fAN-N'
nent members of the church. On the west
ern side of the church the three windows.
beginning near the choir gallery bear these
inscriptions: Byron Greenough; born
1906; died 1871" SIN memory of Darius
White; 1S12-1S85; Forever with the Lord. "
.Charles A. B. Morse; born 1920, died 1886;
Mary M. Morse; born 1924, died 1884,"
On the east side the three windows bear
the inscriptions: I'm memoriam. Henry z.
Hart; born 1905, died 1871" "Rev. j. T.
Champlin born 1911, died 1882" "In memo
riam, Sophia Manning; born 1910, died 1884" !"
The interior is frescoed in reddish brown
color, which, with the windows, gives a
bright and pleasing effect. The members OF
the Society are highly pleased with the i'm
provements.
The pastor, Rev. 7. Dunn, devoted a por-
Of his sermon to an interesting account of
the church edifice and the changes that
have been made in it, He took his text
from Psalms "a :12:
How amiable are thy tabernacles, o Lord
of hosts; my soul longeth, yea even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord my heart and my
flesh crieth out for the living God" Mr.
Dunn said that these words were the ex-
pressions of devout soul for communion
with God in His house. They find a place
in the experience of every prayerful soul
Reference was made to the alterations and
repairs in the church building during the
last few months under the direction Of an
| efficient committee.
A brief sketch of the history of the church
| building was given. 1t was built in 1880 an6
used for two or three years as theatre. i
was purchased by friends in 1885, and sold
to the Freet Street Society in 1886. Extcn
sive alterations were made, and the house
was dedicated to religious worship August
IL, 1885, 1t remained practically unchanged
| for 20 years. In 1856 new galleries were put
| in, spire erected and the vestries were en-
larged In 1869 further changes were made
and new organ was put in place in 1872
Little had here been done to the inside Of
the house for fifteen years until the present
| work commenced.